[Short story] A special night

(Note that I also have published this on Reddit today. It was originally uploaded an published on my Dropbox on 8 January 2018 but probably nobody read it there.)


The following story is inspired by true events.

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Andrew sat down. He was an old man, proud of the life he had lived. There were certainly a few regrets, but all in all his both grandchildren visiting him tonight were proof enough that this fateful night he would tell them about really had its good.

He started talking about his youth, how he went to school, about his parents who had died a few years ago, prior to him telling the story, but after his grandchildren were born. They screamed a short "greatgramma" and "greatgramps" but then continued to listen. It was a time of political tensions, and when an assassination took place on the Balkans, in a town called Sarajevo, the world turned to war. It was in the first year of war that Andrew was conscripted.

Andrew spared a lot of details about the conscription, they would not matter. What mattered was that a few weeks after the conscription, winter had come over the battlefield. In the cold of night, they were fighting to the last drop of blood, a war that lost its humanity. The enemy was a countless horde of man, but so was their own. They ran out of ammunition, the front line provided no warmth during the fight and it raged until deeply in the night. Finally the ammunition was out. They made it look like they still had ammo, but they had used too much for the week. Of course more was on the way, but it would only arrive the next morning. It was cold and dark and the enemy was everywhere. Some time went by but then the enemy started to notice there was only sporadic fire coming from them, and eventually no fire came at all. Two courageous Germans finally went out of their holes, coming closer. They had the guns in their hand. They came to Andrew, and he was sure this was the end.

The children heard the story for the first time, their shocked expression was clearly visible. "But then", Andrew continued, "a miracle happened." One of the soldiers pointed the gun down at Andrew, ready to shoot. The other one reached out his hand and gestured Andrew to follow. They would take him as prisoner, he was sure. Would they torture him now? They brought him to a tent, he had to sit down. It was rather warm inside, a small fire was burning. Then one of the Germans took a wooden box and opened it. They offered it to Andrew. Was that tobacco? The other guy reached him a bracket of chocolate. Was that poison? Reluctantly Andrew let it melt in his mouth, but he refused to smoke.

He didn't understand what was the reason for the Germans' behavior when they showed him their clock. He only understood when they started to sing, and in his own language he fell into the chorus: "Sleep in Heavely Peace. Sleep in Heavenly Peace."
Just like it was today when he told his grandchildren the story, it was that time to celebrate something bigger than all the differences of mankind. It was something that could stop a war. It was Christmas.